Me Made May 2021- My first challenge to myself

Happy first day of May! It’s actually the 2nd day of May but I wrote this yesterday. It’s Me Made May and every May, I am inspired by all the sewing and creativity during this time. I’m usually an inspired observer. However, since I’ve been consistently sewing, especially since 2020, I now feel a little more confident to be an active participant.

In the past, I thought that Me Made May was about posting your sewing makes that were made in May. I also thought that one of the requirements was to wear one me made a day in May. But since being part of a sewing community (on Instagram and Facebook), I’ve recently learned that it’s not only about posting your makes. It also doesn’t matter if you have just one me made make or if you have enough makes to wear something in May everyday. It’s also about challenging yourself to have a better relationship with your sewing, sewing makes, creativity, body and style.

You can basically make your own challenge. I’ve been reading everyone’s challenges to themselves on Instagram and I am so inspired and amazed.

In developing my challenges, I did some reflecting. In 2015, when I started sewing, I had already stopped buying clothes for about 2 years (starting in 2014). I used to buy a lot of clothes and mostly fast fashion. It progressed to buying very little to eventually buying no new clothes. It started in 2013 when I started buying my clothes, solely online and mostly from Modcloth. By doing that, I actually started buying less clothes. It was also one of my goals at that time to buy less things in general. I had a goal to minimalize, especially my wardrobe and closet. I told myself that before I can buy something new from Modcloth, I had to give away at least one clothing item from my closet. Eventually, this turned into not buying anymore new clothes, which was my 2014 New Year’s resolution. This was sparked when I started to learn more about fast fashion. I did not buy any clothes (outer clothing items) in 2014 and 2015. I mostly got “new” clothes from hand me downs from my friends and my adult daughter.

I started sewing in November 2015. I did not sew very much since I was a beginner. I did not have a goal to sew and wear a “made by me” wardrobe. I mostly wanted to learn how to make vintage style dresses because I liked Modcloth so much. I did wear a few of my sewing makes. At first I was self-conscious about it. But as I started getting compliments on my outfits, I felt more comfortable. I did start buying clothes again in 2016, but not much and mostly because I had an event or somewhere I needed to go that needed a certain outfit. I would say in the summer of 2019, I started sewing a little more consistently which was about one or two items a month. In 2020 and 2021, my sewing became a lot more consistent. Now that I think about it, the summer of 2019 was the last time I bought a clothing item and it was for a specific event. The outfit that I made for the event didn’t work out, so I bought a dress instead. That was the last outer clothing item I purchased to date.

Also, I was not posting myself wearing my items. I was too shy. So I mostly put them on a mannequin or dress form to post on my blog and on Instagram. However, when I’m looking at other people’s sewing makes, I love seeing the clothes actually worn. It’s so helpful to see how the clothes actually look like when they are worn. I just wasn’t ready to do that myself. I had it as a goal to eventually post myself actually wearing a dress and in 2021, I became brave and did it for the first time in March. I feel that was an accomplishment because I was able to gain some courage.

March 2021

So, based on these reflections, here are my challenges to myself for Me Made May:

1. Wear at least one Me Made a week and one Me Made a weekend. (appreciation)
2. Post at least one picture of me wearing a Me Made Outfit in May (courage).
3. Clean out my closet (minimalize)
4. Do more refashioning with whatever I have in my closet (upcycle).
5. Use whatever patterns and fabrics that are in my stash. (self-control/minimalize)
6. Continue buying no new clothes and sewing my wardrobe (no fast fashion)
7. Sew less, reflect more.

Ok, I’ll admit that last one is because I’ve lost my sewing mojo. Hopefully it’s temporarily. “Everything is Temporary”. But I do want to reflect more on my sewing journey. By sewing less and reflecting more, I can understand why I started sewing and appreciate my sewing more. I want to share more because when others share their makes and their stories, I am inspired and I hope that I can inspire too.

Happy Me Made May!

My sewing makes so far in 2021